


Sunshine To Go

by pencilguin



Series: Fictober 2018 [4]
Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/F, M/M, Mutual Pining, lots of mutual pining all around
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 06:11:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16592345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pencilguin/pseuds/pencilguin
Summary: After getting expelled from Starfleet Academy, Michael is now serving the regulars at the local coffee shop. Some of them are certainly more interesting than others.





	Sunshine To Go

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on Tumblr as part of the Fictober 2018 challenge. Unbeta'd; I apologize for any mistakes that might still be in there.  
> Inspired by [this post](https://incorrectdiscoquotes.tumblr.com/post/170850065658).

It was Michael’s 157th day since she had taken on the job as a barista at the local Spacebucks Café, simply dubbed “Fleetbucks” by most since it was the one closest to the Starfleet Academy campus. Approximately 90% of its customers were Starfleet; the rest were, almost without exception, guest speakers and other visitors of the academy. It was three hours into her shift, and Michael was already bored out of her mind, as always. The lunch break rush had passed, and it was early in the afternoon, too early for most classes to be over yet. It would be a couple more hours until the next rush of customers started showing up. 

Michael lowered her head and tried to visualize the graphs and equations she had seen her last customer, a guest lecturer from Vulcan, read over on his PADD. At this rate, her brain was going to rot from lack of exercise. She was in no position to complain, though. As her foster father had never failed to remind her, every person was responsible for their own actions and had to bear the consequences of their mistakes. Six months ago, Michael had been expelled from Starfleet Academy, and while she was frustrated and disappointed and upset and heartbroken and all those millions of inappropriate emotions, she knew that Starfleet had been acting completely within their rights to kick her out. So now she was stuck here, serving double skim milk Orion mocha lattes to her former classmates and teachers, as well as serving as a cautionary tale for everyone to follow the rules and adhere to Starfleet’s code of conduct. 

Lost in thought with not much to do in the near-empty café, she was startled when the artificial sound of a bell indicated the door opening. She looked up and immediately recognized the familiar odd couple that walked in, wrapped in soft scarves and warm jackets against the chilly autumn air. Well—they probably weren’t an _actual_ couple, Michael assumed, though it was not her place to judge people, but even leaving aside the age difference, their interactions didn’t indicate an intimate relationship. The pale man in his forties with the light hair and impressive jawline and his bubbly companion with the red curls wrapped into a tight bun who looked young enough to be his daughter were regulars; they usually showed up sometime around lunch for coffee and the occasional snack, sometimes late in the afternoon. This was actually a rather unusual hour for them to be here. 

Michael noticed the man glancing around the café as he walked in, as if he was looking for someone but trying to be covert about it. His name was Paul, she remembered. She never met him when she was still in the academy, nor Tilly—the young woman—but as a barista, you got to know everyone by their first name, and mostly by their first name only. Although she wasn’t entirely convinced that “Tilly” was her real first name. “Oh, just use Tilly, it’ll be fine!” she had said when Michael had asked her name for the first time so she could take her order on a busy day. Maybe she just didn’t like her given name being used; it happened. Michael had smiled politely at her and said, “Okay, Tilly,” and the way her face had lit up at those words had been the cutest thing Michael had seen all month. An odd relief had filled her stomach when she concluded that she was Paul’s temp and lab assistant and apparently not somehow romantically involved with him, a feeling which she hadn’t quite been able to make sense of. 

Michael smiled at her as she seemed to drag herself towards the counter, but it quickly faded when she noticed the gloomy expression on her face. 

“Good afternoon, Tilly,” she said cautiously. “Is everything okay?” 

“Yeah, everything’s _fine_.” She dragged out the last word, like a verbal rolling of her eyes. Paul had caught up and glanced at her sideways. “I just need some coffee.” 

“Sure, in a second.” Michael tried to keep her voice warm and free of concern. She turned around towards the coffee maker. “How do you want your coffee today?” 

“As dark and bitter as my soul,” said Tilly’s gloomy voice behind her. Michael spun around in surprise. 

Paul smiled at his assistant with mild amusement before he turned to Michael. 

“She’ll have a white chocolate mocha.” 

Tilly looked up to glare at him. 

“That’s just rude. Don’t mess with my order.” 

“Cadet Tilly, we both know what happens when you drink too much caffeine. Besides, that’s the only appropriate coffee analogy for your personality.” 

Her cheeks flushed a deep crimson at this. 

“Fine,” she mumbled. “Just give me whatever.” 

Michael chuckled, then turned towards Paul. “And for you?” 

“Matcha green, please.” 

“Alright, coming in a minute.” 

Michael started working on their drinks, glancing at Tilly in between with a frown. “Are you sure you’re okay?” 

Tilly looked up at her, eyes still gloomy but the anger gone, and sighed. Her cheeks were still slightly pink, bringing out the fading freckles that the summer sun had sprinkled on her face. 

“Yeah, I’m … just having a bad day. Don’t worry about me, I’ll live.” 

Michael raised an eyebrow at that. Tilly looked away again, seeming embarrassed. Paul leaned over to her and clumsily placed a hand on her arm to comfort her. 

“I told you already, don’t beat yourself up over it. None of this is the end of the world. I’ve seen your exam results and I’ll have a word with your teacher about them. All of your answers were correct, there’s no way they can get away with dismissing things as false when we’ve got the first hand experience to prove it.” 

Tilly swallowed, something glittering in her eyes suspiciously and sniffling a little when she spoke. 

“Wh-what about today’s experiment? I completely messed that up. Two weeks of your work, and I ruined—” 

Paul waved a hand dismissively. 

“Don’t worry about that. Everyone makes mistakes. Yours wasn’t even that bad. No-one got hurt. Besides, it was _our_ work. We’ll repeat the experiment, and next time, we’ll succeed.” 

She looked up at him uncertainly, sniffling again. 

“Are you sure it’s okay?” 

“Absolutely.” 

She drew a shaky breath. 

“Thank you, sir.” 

“Don’t mention it.” 

She smiled at him, then at Michael, who beamed back at her before she caught herself and tried to rein in her emotions. Then she placed Tilly’s order on the counter. 

“Here’s your white chocolate mocha. Enjoy it.” 

Tilly reached for the cup and their fingers brushed slightly against each other. She blushed again and fumbled for the cup awkwardly, then pulled it close to her chest. With a bemused smile and a confusingly rapid heartbeat, Michael watched Paul grin at her knowingly while Tilly glared at him over the lid of her cup. 

Michael turned to start working on Paul’s order while trying to make sense of her own emotions. Seeing Tilly in a bad mood had made her so sad—normally, Tilly was a ray of sunshine who brightened anyone’s day with her cheerfulness and excitement. Getting to watch her light up again like that had to be the most beautiful thing she had ever witnessed. Why was it making her so nervous? 

Behind her, Tilly and Paul were whispering animatedly, but she couldn’t understand what they were talking about and besides, it would have been rude to eavesdrop. When she was done, she turned around and their discussion immediately stopped. 

“One matcha green tea latte,” she said, placing it on the counter in front of Paul. “Will that be all?” 

“Yes, thank—” Tilly began, but Paul nudged her into the ribs unsubtly and she sputtered—“a-and your number, please?” 

Michael stared at her, unable to do anything but blink for a few seconds. 

“ _Oh_ ,” she managed at last. So _that_ was what it was? The thought had never even crossed her mind until now that Tilly mentioned it, and suddenly, Michael wanted to laugh at herself for how dense she had been. 

“U-unless you don’t want to, of course, which is fine, you know, you don’t have to—” 

“Sure.” 

“… Oh?” was all Tilly managed. Paul shook his head in amusement. With slightly trembling fingers, she pulled her PADD out of her bag and handed it over to Michael, who took it and typed in her contact information, unable to stop the grin that had spread across her face now. When she handed it back, Tilly beamed at her, cheeks flushed with excitement but not looking away this time. 

“I’ll … talk to you later then?” she said. 

“I’m looking forward to it.” 

They smiled at each other for a few more seconds until Tilly pulled her eyes away and turned towards the door. The moment Paul reached for his own cup next to her the bell jingle sounded again and the café’s front door slid open, and all three of them turned their heads to look at the other regular customer that walked in. 

There was a clank, a yelp, and the distinct smell of matcha green tea latte filled the air between them. Michael swiftly grabbed the cup to prevent the rest of its contents from spreading across the counter and snatched a wet cloth from the sink for Paul to cool the burns on his skin with while he was cursing under his breath, scalding hot tea dripping from his hand. 

“Sir! Are you okay?” Tilly gasped, almost spilling her own drink in shock. 

“Yes, I’m—just clumsy, it’s nothing … I’m fine,” he muttered, accepted the cloth Michael was holding out for him and started dabbing carefully at his hand with it. His cheeks had turned bright red. 

“Are you okay? Can I help you?” 

The customer who had just entered and startled Paul had walked up to them, looking worried. Tilly’s eyes went wide as she stared at him, but Michael could have sworn there was no small amount of excitement showing under the surface layer of her surprise. Paul, on the other hand, pointedly avoided looking at him, grumbling that he was fine and this was none of the guy’s business. Then he almost bumped into him by accident when he turned to hand Michael the cloth back, who was frowning at the whole spectacle. 

“Thank you, and sorry for this mess.” 

“Don’t worry. Do you want another cup?” 

“No thanks, I’ve—I think I’ve got enough tea for now,” he sputtered, took the half-empty cup out of her hand and hurried out of the café, Tilly following after him and seemingly teasing him about something as soon as they were outside. Michael and her customer looked after them until they were out of sight. 

“Sorry I caused such a mess,” he echoed Paul’s earlier comment. 

“That was hardly your fault, Hugh,” Michael said softly. 

“I’m not so sure about that. Looks like I startled him.” A curious smile played around his lips. “I hope he’s going to be okay. I’m a doctor, I could have helped him.” 

“Well, he refused, so he’ll have to deal with it on his own,” she responded while she wiped down the counter. “The usual for you today?” 

“Yes, thank you, Michael.” He looked at the door again as she turned around to throw the cloth back into the sink and prepared his coffee. “I don’t see them here very often. They were early today.” 

“Or very late,” Michael commented. “They come here around lunch a lot.” 

“Really?” he mused. “Too bad my shifts are always too late for that.” 

Michael smiled to herself. So her suspicion had been correct. Funny how much more perceptive she was when it came to other people, compared to herself. 

“Here’s your coffee, Hugh. Can I get you anything else?” 

“Thank you.” He took the cup, then hesitated. “Hey, would you do me a favor?” 

“Sure, what is it?” 

“Can you give him my number the next time he’s here?” 

Michael grinned at him. “Sure, I can do that.” 

“Don’t look at me like that!” he said and laughed. 

“Do you want me to pass any additional message on to him from you?” 

Hugh took a sip of his coffee before he spoke. 

“Tell him I’m asking how his hand is doing, and to contact me if he’d like to have coffee or tea with me some time.” 

Michael smiled. 

“I will. Hugh?” 

“Yes?” 

“Good luck.” 

**Author's Note:**

> To everyone who leaves any comments on my works: Thank you so much, they make me happier than you can imagine. And if I don’t respond to them it’s because I’ve used up all the words on my writing and all I’m left with is feelings I can’t articulate. <3


End file.
